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FEBRUARY 2023

High Flying Offers

Take advantage of an exclusive offer this spring with four-person buyouts on 8-day and 10-day safaris in Kenya

Take advantage of SkySafari Kenya’s exclusive buyouts for minimum bookings of 4 pax on 8-day and 10-day safaris during mid and low season.

Travel in style with your family or friends and enjoy your own private plane throughout your safari adventure. The special free upgrade offer is valid for stays from now through 15 May 2023 on SkySafari programmes in Kenya. T&Cs apply, and the buyout offer is valid for adults and children ages 12 and up. This offer is not combinable with any other offers and excludes park and concession fees.

Low Season Sky

Enjoy the many benefits of a green season safari

Safari during the green season offers many advantages to guests, including green season rates for 8-day and 10-day SkySafari itineraries in Kenya and Tanzania and our 13-day SkySafari East Africa adventure.

Game drives are incredibly rewarding due to fewer vehicles and less crowds, allowing guests to enjoy special wildlife sightings and see animals in their natural behaviour amidst the wide-open wilderness. The landscape becomes even more theatrical if rains have recently fallen, thanks to dramatic skies and lush, blooming vegetation, creating a beautiful contrast. The crisp, clean air also ensures clearer viewings. The low season is also the calving period when many animals give birth to their young and guests can often expect to see new-born wildebeest, gazelle, zebra, and giraffe take their first steps of life. Some will also bear witness to an actual birth on the African savannah. Certain elusive animals are easier to spot during this time, for example the elegant cheetah is most active. The low season is also a fantastic time for bird lovers, allowing them to observe their unique characteristics, including nest building techniques and mating habits.

Why Fly Sky Now

Excellent migration viewing without the peak season price tag

Often associated with high-season in Kenya, there are ample opportunities to witness the migration off-season in Tanzania.

At this time of year there is excellent viewing of this magnificent spectacle to be had from Serengeti Pioneer Camp. Guests can easily visit the Naabi gate area where the migration is concentrated and there are fantastic prospects for viewing predators in action.

Sky Through The Lens

Why Green Season is so popular with photographers and film makers

We speak to Samy Ghannam at Backdrop Production on why this time of year presents great conditions for capturing images.

Why do you think the green season is so popular with photographers and film makers?

Green seasons are close to ideal for photographic safaris for many reasons. First prices tend to drop as we are no longer within high season rates. Lower costs can mean more time on location and better chances for really special sightings. Besides, you operate within less crowded conservancies which also enhance your flexibility for various compositions, framing and overall ease of capture. For landscape photography, this is also the best time to take advantage of unique perspectives, free of dust or haze.

Tell us about the light at his time of year, is it different.

Light can change quickly during the green seasons. Yes, there will be showers but chances of constant pouring are really low. Instead, you can really extract dramatic skies with soft lighting onto your subjects, which are an incredible advantage if you pursue moody compositions. Perhaps more importantly, everything is lush and green, especially right after short rains. Flowers bloom everywhere, trees are in full flush, it not only fuels inspiration to get creative with wider framing, it also creates a great contrast with sometimes more dull or flat looking ecosystems during the dry seasons.

Can you still see plenty of wildlife?

With grass, food and water being abundant, overall wildlife population increases. Wildlife is also active for longer periods due to cooler temperatures and this is the perfect time to make good use of full days out there on game drives. All this provides for greater diversity and potentially the number of sightings. Birds are also more abundant after the rain, especially migratory birds. Pay attention to the colourful mating plumage! Also this is the usual time for breeding season, hence offering wonderful sighting opportunities that leave anyone in awe.

What would be your top tips for aspiring photographers visiting at this time of year

Take advantage of the many colourful backgrounds available! While you will still be able to get up close and get the super telephoto portraits, you probably want to try a wider array of compositions and really showcase the subjects within their environment. Colour and lighting contrasts are enhanced, as well as dramatic skies. It is a blessing once in the edit room to extract various emotions and moods from a single scene. In other words, this is the perfect time to try some compositions using wider lenses, all the way down to 16mm if you feel like it.